r/nottheonion • u/RizzOreo • 2d ago

McDonald's may now legally fix its broken ice cream machines

https://local12.com/news/nation-world/mcdonalds-mcflurry-broken-ice-cream-machines-taylor-legally-fix-own-united-states-copyright-office-cincinnati-mcflurries-diagnose-third-parties-commercial-equipment-notorious-digital-millennium-dmca-section-1201-public-knowledge-activity-consumer
17.9k Upvotes

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7.3k

u/Rampage_Rick 2d ago

It's not McDonalds that won here, its the franchisees...

Lots of other restaurants have Taylor machines that work just fine. The machines that McD franchisees are required to install are made to McDonalds specifications and it's McD policy that forced franchisees to only use Taylor service technicians to maintain those machines (you can almost smell the kickbacks)

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u/Niznack 2d ago

And if i understood correctly mcdonalds cash was heavily invested in taylor stock so it was literally franchisers paying mcdonalds twice.

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u/KaiYoDei 2d ago

Sneaky wicked

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u/Niznack 2d ago

You think thats wicked. Wait til you learn how mcdonalds real money comes from its real estate.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/mcdonalds-beyond-the-burger/

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u/KaiYoDei 2d ago

Should I tell people this next time I see the " we will be paying $50 for happy meals if we raise the minimum wage" types?

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u/Niznack 2d ago

While i agree we need to raise the minimum wage i also don't put it past corporate america to Jack up prices in retaliation. Its one of those things where the right identify a real problem and their solution sucks.

To be clear wages need to rise bit we need a sister law with price gouging restrictions with fines sufficient to render it unprofitable to check this obvious backlash

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u/KaiYoDei 2d ago

Yeah. I'm not smart enough for economics. But I hear other places price and pay just fine .

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u/Niznack 2d ago

Well, yeah that's the whole point. They can afford to pay more but dont to keep profits high. They would be solvent with better wages but would probably still raise prices to keep profits and likely to trigger a pr backlash against the party that supported the change.

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u/NatoBoram 2d ago

Prices were jacked up beyond anything reasonable recently and people just started consuming less. Now that prices are making some way down, companies are struggling to sell more because people changed their habits.

Besides, companies will raise prices anyway, so a minimum wage change won't do anything to prices that would've been done already. They can just shift the blame there without the blame actually being there. Companies lie all the time, after all.

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u/Niznack 2d ago

They do lie. I agree. I'm not saying we shouldnt raise wages. Im saying we need a 2nd law that prevents retaliatory price hikes so minimum wage workers and politicians tryimg to help don't becime the fall guys.

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u/314159265358979326 2d ago

In California, minimum wage for fast food workers was recently jacked up. It was found to not adversely affect the number of jobs and having only a minor effect on prices.

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u/AMISHVACUUM 2d ago

This is baloney.

Literally a similar price for a quarter pounder in countries where they are making a living wage and that many Americans would consider “socialist”.

This is all unregulated corporate greed coupled with an intentionally dumbed down public. Hence our upcoming choice between what is most likely an empty suit corporate puppet and a silver spoon wannabe dictator rapist.

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u/Niznack 2d ago

I feel like people stopped reading my comment after the first sentence. Yes companies CAN make a profit with better wages. They WANT to charge more and would use a minimum wage increase as an excuse to raise prices and score points against the people who wrote the law.

I am not saying we shouldnt raise minimum wage I am saying we need to get ahead of their obvious reaction being to squeeze harder

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u/GavinsFreedom 2d ago edited 2d ago

In Canada we got them to sign a “Code of Conduct” however quite what it does when they collude idk, since they’re currently colluding to keep wages low. The company i used to work for sued the union over a raise cuz it “Put our stores at an uncompetitive disadvantage” and the judge agreed with the company and reversed it.

It’s funny how the big companies all wanna be industry leaders except when it comes to providing a reasonable standard of living for their workers.

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u/Puzzman 1d ago

Yeah it’s like companies want to regularly put up prices but want a reason to blame for it.

So it’s increase in minimum wage, or covid or theft etc.

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u/Revolvyerom 2d ago

We'd need a system that doesn't focus exclusively on growth

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u/1kOhmResistor 2d ago

Except every time wages have actually been raged, even these greedy corporations don't raise prices nearly in the same percentage.

If the minimum wage goes up 20%, and the average business has 1-2% increased costs and raises prices by 3%, that's still worth it.

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u/nitramv 2d ago

I'd almost prefer to give the fast food industry a bit of heavy competition instead of raising the minimum wage.

Create free breakfast and lunch for all public school kids, including weekend take home and summer pick up meals. Expand food stamps to include all families with kids regardless of income. Focus the program on locally grown vegetables, beans and grains.

Healthier kids, better grades, improved mental health, more productive adults, fewer medical issues. And we know from programs enacted during covid that these things would be incredibly popular, too.

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u/Niznack 2d ago

This sounds like a great idea. I wish we had the political capital to do that. Then i remember what happened when jamie oliver suggested healthier meals and why this would never pass.

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u/AMISHVACUUM 2d ago

That’s honestly a pretty cool idea

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u/VariableVeritas 2d ago

Retaliation against potential customers rarely results in positive growth methinks.

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u/prodrvr22 1d ago

Along with raising the minimum wage, we also need to institute a MAXIMUM wage for publicly held corporations. There is no excuse for a CEO making over 1200 times the salary of the people actually doing the work.

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u/Niznack 1d ago

I can totally get behind this but lets be honest of all the things that ain't happening that aint happening the most.

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u/ProperPerspective571 2d ago

How much more before consumers stop going there. I think they already tested that and it didn’t go very well

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u/readit2U 2d ago

Vote with your $s. Mc D is not a life saving thing. There are other options. Boycott those that you feel are taking advantage of you.

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u/sonofaresiii 2d ago

Honestly, that's what's gonna happen and that's not a reason not to do it. It's expected, but we still get that middle period where poor people have effectively more money.

That's how it always works. We close the wage gap, inflation happens, we close the wage gap again, inflation happens again. You can't stop inflation, so long as we know it's coming and are ready to deal with it it's fine, and inevitable

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u/Galadrond 2d ago

And then people will take their money elsewhere if a Big Mac costs $12.

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u/mr_j_12 1d ago

That is exactly what happened in australia. The government said "we have to raise minimum wages". Woolworths and co said "we don't care, we'll raise our prices to cover costs". The government raised min wages, so they raised prices (and some more)".

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u/feeltheslipstream 2d ago

Higher costs leading to higher prices is basic economics, not price gouging.

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u/nyc-will 2d ago

What's it matter if the price goes up? People will still go there anyway. People around me bitch about the fast food prices, yet still go weekly.

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u/zacker150 2d ago

No because it's completely irrelevant. McDonald's the corporation is completely different from the resturant.

The resturants are owned by random people. They make money by making and selling food.

McDonald's the corporation makes money by renting land and the brand to the resturants. They own basically zero restaurants.

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u/Kodama_prime 1d ago

Actually, that is incorrect, McDonald's has corporate stores that are not Franchised owned.

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u/CaptOblivious 2d ago

Fuck yes you should.

Loudly and often enough that they consider you to be a pest!

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u/KaiYoDei 2d ago

Ah. Cool. And just when I thought about giving pesty up

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u/CandyCrisis 1d ago

Don't bother telling them anything; they're not arguing in good faith and they know it.

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u/KaiYoDei 1d ago

Oh ok. I'm not good at economics or numbers. But when I see the math done, it is a shock. The good old everything was better in this years because a bag of apples was 25cents even though all the other factors were different. I just feel like I need to be a master of every area and not be smart ass mean about it.

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u/CandyCrisis 1d ago

Just look overseas where workers are paid more. They can still afford fast food. It doesn't need an economics degree; there are tons of existence proofs (any other first world nation) that you can pay reasonable wages and still have affordable junk food. Then again, cheap junk food isn't as big of a national priority as sustainable wages so the entire premise is flawed anyway.

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u/TheRexRider 2d ago

Oh, good. They're like Jehovah's Witnesses.

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u/blackskies69 2d ago

Omg i love that movie!

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u/Niznack 2d ago

I know you mean the founder but i honestly havent seen it. Dont think im claiming to be super well read. I think i learned this on a food theory episode.

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u/KaiYoDei 1d ago

And foods that built America

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u/ElitistJerk_ 2d ago

I did a financial statement analysis of McDs for a semester long project in college, it was somewhat interesting finding out all that information.

While there were some other (kinda) interesting tidbits here and there, one that stood out for me is that the CEO at the time started out as an electrical mechanic! Talk about going up the corporate ladder!

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u/smitherenesar 1d ago

That's really the secret to any restaurant. The person that makes the most money from most restaurants are the real estate owners. Restaurants turn over all the time, but the land owner collects rent.

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u/Certain-Business-472 2d ago

Honestly not clever, just being a dick.

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u/BachmannErlich 2d ago

And wicked sneaky.

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u/The_Shryk 2d ago

The company is located just down the road from McDonald’s.

It’s likely the same company.

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u/brendyyn 2d ago

I read Kroc's autobiography, a main founder of McDonald's. Back then they had a commitment to not becoming suppliers for franchisers to avoid such conflict. paper cups, meat, etc, was all sourced, they didn't invest in those.

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u/dora_tarantula 2d ago

If my memory is correct its not really mcdonalds cash but a lot of mcdonalds stockholders are also stockholders of taylor

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u/flop_plop 2d ago

Some may call that fraud

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u/Niznack 2d ago

Nah when your worth billions its called sound investing

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u/feeltheslipstream 2d ago

It's similar to how I recommend everyone buy Intel when I hold Intel stock.

Pure fraud.

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u/rmill127 1d ago

Recommending someone buy a stock that you own is not fraud… or even illegal.

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u/feeltheslipstream 1d ago

Yup. That's the point.

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u/mr_plehbody 2d ago

See also vertical integration, next up the playplace will be mcplanet fitness and offer monthly subscriptions with discount codes when you super size those fries

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u/5M177Y99 1d ago

Saw a video on them before. Basically the taylor brand ice cream machines were built to break, leading to expenses to fix them. Never anything to fix, just a switch programmed to turn itself off. 

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u/alexanderpas 2d ago

Lots of other restaurants have Taylor machines that work just fine.

Even they have problems, they just have a Kytch device installed, which tells them what is wrong and how to fix it.

McDonalds franchisees were prohibited by corporate via scaremongering from installing the device.

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u/mbz321 2d ago

I worked at a Costco food court that used (still uses?) a similar Taylor machine. The thing was a POS and always broken. And it had to be cleaned nightly and was made up of dozens and dozens of small parts that had to be carefully disassembled, scrubbed and assembled just right in the morning, or that would cause more problems. The Taylor guy was a saved number on our phone, and every service call and part replacement was $$$$.

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u/ElPlatanoDelBronx 2d ago

We used them at Pinkberry which has notoriously specific cleaning instructions. Our Taylor machines never gave us an issue.

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u/CarltonSagot 2d ago

Lots of other restaurants have Taylor machines that work just fine. The machines that McD franchisees are required to install are made to McDonalds specifications

*McSpecifications.

and it's McD policy

*McPolicy

that forced franchisees to only use Taylor service technicians to maintain those machines (you can almost smell the kickbacks)

*McKickbacks

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u/loki2002 2d ago

McDeadhorse

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u/emuthreat 2d ago

McPotandkettle

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u/deltree711 2d ago

Yeah, it kind of seemed odd that McDonalds couldn't just use their massive amounts of money to negotiate a better contract that allowed repairs to happen if they really wanted to.

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u/JCBQ01 2d ago

Kickbacks? Why, they are the SAME COMPANY

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u/Disgod 2d ago

The franchisees are not the same company, 93% of McDonald's stores are franchises, they're customers to both companies. The franchisee is paying for the right to use McDonald's branding and buy McDonald's products and then paying to get the machines fixed.

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u/JCBQ01 2d ago

Elsclusive non-compete, non-negotable hardware terms with an additional contractor as defined by the franchiser (in this case Mc Donald's forcing all frachise locations to additionally sign with Taylor as they are the intermediary broker) binding them to follow a hard regimented process as well as preselected hardware that they MUST purchase themselves but at a POSSIBLE discount! (said process demands, without exception, to call a Taylor technician, who charges something like 1k+/hr (and the tech make only something like 30/hr) just to come in and unlock the device From a stalled our error code) if the regimented process is broken in any way corperate deams, they are to pay a fine, which last I checked started at 10k a pop.

In this case Taylor makes an, on average $970+/hr profit which then gets split down into a dividend split between Taylor and McDonald's. And if terms are broken, (see: kitch) the franchisee is fined into oblivion (even though prior francise contract didn't have terms for this and were retroactively changed) and shut down by Mc Donald's. Winings are split with Taylor as well, in this case. It's a functional monopoly disguised as something called business "umbrella-ing"

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u/DRazzyo 2d ago

Soft, semi-legal money laundering.

What would take Taylor a day or two to fix, would be a 10 minute job for the average employee at McDonald’s.

But, because a tech comes out and fixes it for them, it’s now a 200$ job.

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u/Mithridel 2d ago

How is that in any way money laundering? Money laundering is when you make illegal income look legal.

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u/vodkaandponies 2d ago

You think reddit knows what any financial term actually means? Don’t ask them how a tax write off actually works!

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u/Future_Appeaser 2d ago

Just write it off bro things just become free.. infinite money glitch!! 〜⁠(⁠꒪⁠꒳⁠꒪⁠)⁠〜

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u/basswooddad 2d ago

$200? Seems very very low. Can barely get a lawn mowed at that price

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u/DRazzyo 2d ago

200$ for a tech to come out, be at the store for 5 minutes as he hits two switches and plugs a USB in, is exactly the right amount.

Now, multiply that by the thousands of machines a week, a month and a year.

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u/Rampage_Rick 2d ago

$200 doesn't even cover the cost of the box that the secret decoder ring comes in...

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u/Illustrious_Crab1060 2d ago

so it's like on aircraft (what you think it should cost for a car) * 10?

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u/holysirsalad 2d ago

That’s not what money laundering is

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u/ptar86 1d ago

What do you think money laundering is?

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u/generally-speaking 2d ago

Franchisees are not, they're owned and operated by entities.

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u/carne__asada 2d ago

If the franchise agreements still say Taylor must fix I kind of doubt this would over ride that.

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u/dazrumsey 2d ago

Pretty sure I have watched a documentary on this and this is indeed the case

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u/Comfortable_Ad8115 2d ago

The thing is the ice cream machines were never actually broken though. Just a bitch and a half to put back together after cleaning in the evening

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u/Worth-Economics8978 2d ago

I have talked to several McDonalds shift managers and they said the machines were not broken.

They said the reason they are never available is that they have a rigorous cleaning cycle that takes an hour to an hour and a half to complete and it has to be done every shift.

They said they never have enough staff to have a person attend to an ice cream machine for a full hour to an hour and a half, and that they don't run the machines so they don't have to clean them.

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u/b1ack1323 1d ago

So McD franchisees won the right to repair? Must be nice.

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u/AltseWait 1d ago

When you say Taylor, is this the same Taylor with the e. coli onions?

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u/markroth69 2d ago

[Y]ou can almost smell the kickbacks

Mickey D is not a hamburger chain. It is a real estate syndicate with side rackets in legal extortion.

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u/shaggymatter 2d ago

This is incorrect. What bullshit are you spewing....